You've read the title and I'm sure you'll agree. Last night (September 15th) was the biggest and best night of the year for boxing fans all around the world! I don't normally sum up the whole night in one article because usually there is a difference in class and entertainment between the fights, but not this time. Every fight that took place provided us with excitement and entertainment to the highest level.
I'm gonna start off with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr Vs Sergio Martinez. Now, it's not often you can get scorecards as wide as 117-110, 118-109 & 118-109 and say that a fight was jam packed with action and excitement. Well with this one you can. Martinez dominated most of the fight, almost all of the fight, but the final round will go down as one of the best in boxing history. Chavez knew he had to get the knockout so for the final time in the fight, he stepped up the pace and bulldozed towards Martinez. He landed a couple of shots and then BOOM! Martinez hit the floor. At this point I was jumping out of my seat as a I just couldn't believe what was happening. It actually seemed as though Chavez Jr was going to come back and finish this fight in the 12th.
But, just as it seemed the surprises and shocks were over... Martinez came back even stronger and Chavez looked like the guy who had just been knocked down. He was swinging everywhere and Martinez was landing some solid shots. The bell rang and both men walked away knowing they had give it their all. They matched each other for heart but Martinez was purely just the more talented guy.
Where Martinez goes next will link in with something at the end of this article so I'll leave that to then. But I know exactly where I want Chavez to go next. I want him to fight Carl Froch. He obviously needs to move up in weight. He's only 26 so he's still got his whole career ahead of him. Why not start off fresh at a new weight? I'm sure the fans would love to see this fight as both of these guys bring excitement and heart to the ring.
Damn! Don't even get me started on the undercard. I'll get the first two out of the way because I just want to talk about Miguel Beltran Jr Vs Rocky Martinez.
Guillermo Rigondeaux dominated against Roberto Maroquin but did show a few flaws and looked slightly less unbeatable than he usually does. And then Matthew Macklin announced himself back onto the world middleweight scene by stopping Joachim Alcine in the first round.
Now, onto the "fight of the year", well in my opinion it is, and I'm sure a lot of you will agree with me. I'm surprised the fans still had energy to watch Chavez Vs Martinez after witnessing this fight. It was 12 rounds of non-stop action from Beltran and Martinez. The judges scorecards were 116-111 Beltran (horrendous judging) & 114-113, 114-113 to Rocky Martinez, meaning Martinez won the fight by split decision and claimed the WBA title. If you get time, try and watch this fight on YouTube as it truly was the most action-packed fight of the year.
Right, onto the Golden Boy show. Now I have to say it; this show was not as good as the Top Rank show (I think we always knew it wasn't going to be) but it did still provide a lot entertainment. Especially the fight between Marcos Maidana and Jesus Soto Karass. This was another all-out war and it seemed like both guys just forgot about the rules. The referee, Kenny Bayliss was forced to deduct points from both fighters. After slowing down and losing a couple of rounds, Maidana eventually managed to pin Karass to the ropes and stop him in the 8th round. It wasn't a top draw performance from Maidana but he got the job done.
The main event on this show went exactly as expected. Many, including myself, were hoping that Josesito Lopez could cause an upset once again and steal the title from Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez. But unfortunately this wasn't the case and Alavarez dominated Lopez for four rounds and then stopped him in the 5th.
Now this is where Martinez comes back into the equation. I would love to see 'Maravilla' fight Floyd Mayweather but to be honest with you, I just can't see this happening. So the second best option for Martinez is Canelo. Ward is out of the picture because Martinez will not move up to super-middleweight so this is the next best fight for us fight fans. The chances of it happening are about 50% but we can still hope. Both fighters' confidence will be sky high after last night so they'll both feel like they can take on anyone right now.
Well that's it, last night summed in as short article as possible (I could have gone on talk about it for pages and pages). It truly was one of the best nights in boxing's long and eventful history.
By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.
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